The Children‘s Media Conference

CMC 2016 - Opening Keynote - Lemn Sissay

Lemn Sissay will open the Making it Happen agenda at CMC in his inimitable style. The title of his talk is ‘Superman was a Foundling’ – in a wide sweep exploring childhood, and the outsider at the heart of popular culture, Lemn will reveal much about the role of divergence and difference in our lives.

Keynote Producer Angela Ferreira on Lemn:

For those who have never seen Lemn live, this is an unmissable opportunity to hear one of the leading poets of our generation speak with passion and clarity about some of the issues facing children today and what we can do to further nurture, protect and guide them. Lemn has seen more life than many of us will ever experience and his candid message, delivered with fun and playfulness, will leave you with that lightbulb moment –  wondering ‘why, I never thought of that’…

Always challenging stereotypes and the status quo, Lemn is the perfect opening keynote for our conference theme this year.

CMC 2016 - Changemaker - Rich Keith

Rich has spent over 20 years working in the media as a reporter, editor and publisher, going from newspapers to magazines to websites to digital video. He is now the Chief Revenue Officer of YouTube phenomenon the Yogscast – a family of YouTube, Twitch and social channels focussed on video games that have been watched more than 6bn times and have over 20m subscribers on YouTube alone. Bristol-based Yogscast were dubbed the ‘UK’s kings of YouTube’ by the BBC.

CMC 2016 - Changemaker - Leo Waddell

Leo is a transgender boy. He was born female but knew from a very young age that his body didn’t fit his gender identity. At age 11, his name was changed by deed poll and he started seeing a gender specialist to help with his transition, at 12 he began taking hormone blockers to halt the puberty which had begun to distress him. He is now 15 and preparing to start taking testosterone to continue his puberty as a male.

CMC 2016 - Changemaker - Kate Wilson

Kate Wilson is the Managing Director of Nosy Crow, a five year-old, independent, multi-award-winning publisher of children’s books, ebooks and highly-interactive apps. In 2016, Nosy Crow won the Independent Publishers Guild’s Children’s Publisher of the Year Award for the third time, and the overall Publisher of the Year Award. Before founding Nosy Crow, Kate Wilson ran Scholastic UK Ltd and, before that, Macmillan Children’s Books, and so published ‘The Gruffalo’, ‘Horrible Histories’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ among other bestsellers.

CMC 2016 - Changemaker - Jordan Casey

Jordan Casey is a 16 year old self taught programmer and entrepreneur from Waterford in Ireland. Since 2012, Jordan has founded 3 successful technology startups and has established himself as a symbol for young entrepreneurship throughout Europe. Mainly working in the gaming and educational area, Jordan’s products have received critical and commercial success with many awards being racked up in the process.

He is also an established public speaker, sharing his story throughout Europe and the world and he has done work with organisations such as Google and The European Union.

CMC 2016 - What Do We Tell The Children?

When reporting ‘bad news’ to children under 12, what’s the best way to approach it? Following the Paris attacks in November 2015, mainstream media was full of articles giving advice on how to talk to children about the atrocities. Journalists from the BBC, P'tit Libe in France, the Guardian and ITN discuss the question many people are asking: how to break difficult news to children.

CMC 2016 - Commissioner Conversations - International

This ninety-minute session will allow audience members to hear from international children's commissioners from around the world about how they make it happen in their home country and on their home network. Hear diverse opinions starting from your own backyard in Wales and Ireland and expanding outwards to representatives from Europe, North America and South America. Each individual will be asked to examine global trends in the children's media industry and offer insights as to how each network, media landscape, and respective country views them.

CMC 2016 - Commissioner Conversations - VoD & OTT

From iPlayer to YouTube to Netflix, and many more in between: the growth of VOD and OTT services in the past few years has been rapid, and shows no signs of stopping. Increasingly children and young people are turning to on-demand services for their entertainment – whether it’s a dedicated app or a streaming video website. This creates a wealth of opportunities for producers and IP holders, as well as the service providers themselves; but it also creates new challenges to ensure safety and quality, and to take advantage of the opportunities a bespoke digital service offers. Join commissioners from a variety of websites, broadcasters, and children’s apps, who’ll discuss what new content they’re looking for, what the benefits and pitfalls are of this growing market, and how you can be a part of its future.

CMC 2016 - Commissioner Conversations - Viacom

A chance to hear from the content teams of Disney, Turner and Viacom. Find out what’s successful, what they’re looking for, and how best to approach them.

CMC 2016 - Commissioner Conversations - Turner

A chance to hear from the content teams of Disney, Turner and Viacom. Find out what’s successful, what they’re looking for, and how best to approach them.